Arts & Humanities Society & Culture

UGA Spring Dance Concert 2012 features faculty, guest choreographers

Benson
UGA student Rebecca Benson performs as the amethyst dancer in the UGA Spring Dance Concert 2012 piece Aurora's Crown.

Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia department of dance will present its Spring Dance Concert 2012 on April 12-14 at 8 p.m. and April 15 at 2:30 p.m. at the New Dance Theatre located off Sanford Drive across from the South Campus parking deck.

The concert will premiere staged works by faculty and guest artists. In its second year, the concert is co-directed by UGA faculty members Joan Buttram and Rebecca Gose Enghauser.

Spring Dance Concert 2012 brings together faculty choreographers and students who are completing their bachelor’s degrees or minors in dance. Choreographers and student dancers have been rehearsing most of the pieces since the beginning of fall semester 2011 and are now fully integrated into the new performance works as required by their courses of study.

This year the department invited the Atlanta-based company LIFT, an all-male dance company directed by departmental lecturer Daryl Foster, to perform as a guest company in the concert. Faculty and students also are working with lighting designer Chris Fleming to create the works’ overall stage presentation.

“We strive to expose the students to various choreographers and dance styles and, as such, bring in guest artists to create performance works with the student dancers,” said Buttram, an associate professor of dance in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and UGA ballet program coordinator. “It is an eclectic concert featuring a variety of modern dance works, hip hop and jazz as well as contemporary and neoclassic ballets.”

Other guest choreographers for the concert include professor emeritus of dance Virginia Carver, Tony Award winning choreographer Chet Walker and costume designers Evan K. Ayotte and Maria Machado. The concert will also feature new works from five UGA dance faculty—Buttram, Foster, Enghauser, Alix Miller and Janet Robertson. Also on the program is a guest performance by Louis Romanos, a musician and dance department accompanist.

Tickets are $15 for general admission, $10 for students and seniors and $5 for children ages 6-12. Advanced tickets are available at the Tate Student Center box office or by calling 706/542-8579 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets will be available at the door one hour before each performance.